


Snowbound

by moviegeek03



Category: 9-1-1: Lone Star (TV 2020)
Genre: Angst, Christmas, Head Injury, Hospitals, Hurt TK Strand, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Tarlos Secret Santa 2020, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:27:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28269111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moviegeek03/pseuds/moviegeek03
Summary: What was supposed to be a quiet, holiday getaway in the mountains soon turns into a nightmare thanks to a nasty patch of ice and a clumsy boyfriend. (Written for the Tarlos Secret Santa Exchange)
Relationships: Carlos Reyes/TK Strand
Comments: 11
Kudos: 122
Collections: Tarlos Secret Santa Exchange





	Snowbound

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lostin_space](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lostin_space/gifts).



> This is a gift for Alyssa (aka lostin_space) who included these prompts in her form:   
> Prompt #2 *  
> anything angsty
> 
> Prompt #3 *  
> vacationing where they don't have to think about work
> 
> I ended up combining the two and adding in some whump. I hope you enjoy!

The car made its way up the mountain side. TK all but bounced in the seat as the snow started to fall. He hadn’t seen any since he had moved to Texas, and it felt wonderful to take it in. They drove up the winding road as it fell. TK couldn’t help but feel like it was going to be a good weekend.

_He had no idea how wrong he was…_

“It’s just snow, babe,” Carlos laughed as he turned up yet another steep hill.

“But I’ve missed it,” TK all but whined. He reached over and took Carlos’s free hand in his. The couple had planned this trip for nearly a month. They had driven hours out of town and rented a cabin in the mountains for a four day weekend, just the two of them. “Come on. You can’t say it isn’t nice to see snow before Christmas. In Texas.”

“We are in the mountains in Texas. Like hours from home.”

“But snow. In Texas!”

Carlos stole a quick glance, trying not to smile. He failed. “Maybe…”

“I knew it!” TK sent him a wide grin. “You are excited!”

Carlos gave in and smiled, shaking his head. “I’m excited to spend a long weekend with you, regardless of the weather. I’ve been looking forward to this all month. Especially since we can’t spend Christmas together in a couple days.”

“I know. I’m sorry. I didn’t think anything of it when I agreed to take an extra shift. Christmas has never been a huge thing. I mean, dad and I celebrate it. But it was also a half Hanukkah with my mom and half Christmas with dad. And then once I joined the department, I usually worked extra shifts.”

“It’s okay. I didn’t think either when my sister asked me to come to Georgetown.”

“It’s okay,” TK added. “I didn’t expect you to not see your family, you know. It’s not a big deal. I’m just glad we get to do this. Snow and all.”

Carlos laughed. He took another turn, heading toward their cabin up the hill. “Okay, I will say that the snow is pretty romantic…”

“Oh yeah?” TK quirked an eyebrow at that. “Is that so?”

“Maybe.” Carlos stole a glance at TK. His eyes lingered for an extra moment before he focused back on the road. The other cabins down from theirs fell away and they soon were faced with the lone cabin at the top of the hills. 

“Well…maybe we can take advantage of that. You know. While it is still snowing outside.”

Carlos parked. “Hmm, what do you have in mind?”

TK looked at their cabin. “Aren’t there supposed to be like these really long windows in the back where the bedroom is?”

“Yes…”

“We could, I don’t know, go make use of that back bedroom? Watch the snow. From bed. While we do other things…” Carlos raised his eyebrow, making TK laugh. He unbuckled his seatbelt and leaned across the console, kissing Carlos deeply. “What do you say?”

“Mmm, I like your thinking,” Carlos sighed, pulling apart from the kiss.

TK smiled and opened the car door. He raced around to Carlos’s side once out, mindful of the snow that was slowly but surely building up on the ground. He slipped as he came around to the door, earning a concerned look from Carlos. Despite that, he opened Carlos’s door and held out his hand. “Come on. I say we go check it out.”

Carlos shook his head, smiling widely. “What about our bags and mmph!”

TK cut him off with another kiss, deepening it before finally responding. “I can get them later.”

Carlos smiled, bringing his hand up to cup TK’s cheek. “Are you sure?”

“Positive.” TK winked. “Come on. I want to see how nice the bed is.”

“Is that so?” Carlos chuckled and opened his door. He left the bags and ran around to TK’s side.

TK was fast to get out of the car and grab Carlos’s hand. He slipped a little on the snow but quickly regrouped as they approached the cabin. It was a large space and looked picturesque against the snow. “This is nice,” TK said.

“Didn’t Judd recommend it?” Carlos turned the doorknob and led TK inside.

“Yeah, but let’s not add to his ego by letting him know we like it.”

Carlos scoffed, but was soon cut off by TK kissing him once again. “Easy, tiger,” he chuckled against TK’s lips. “We have time.”

“Mmm, but, we don’t know how long the snow will last. So…”

“You have a point.” Carlos toyed with the edges of TK’s hoodie.

“So…bedroom?”

Carlos nodded and the two soon found their way to the bedroom, collapsing against the bed and losing themselves in the moment. The snow continued to fall outside as they enjoyed their time. Losing themselves in touches and kisses and more…until they both were too exhausted to do more than fall asleep against one another.

TK awoke some odd hours later. Carlos was still peacefully sleeping beside him. He smiled softly, letting himself enjoy the moment. He toyed with Carlos’s curls while the man continued to sleep. He still couldn’t believe they had made it to this point, to weekend getaways. Romantic weekend getaways. At the holidays.

TK didn’t expect to make it to that again. Hell, he really hadn’t gotten that with Alex in the past. Alex never wanted big weekends away, always too wrapped up in his job and friends and routine.

_Carlos was so different._

TK shook himself from his thoughts. He leaned down to place a chaste kiss to Carlos’s forehead. The man snuffled into the pillows, bringing a smile to TK’s face once again. He couldn’t believe he had this. That this was how things were going now.

With that thought, he slowly pushed himself up and out of the bed. He knew Carlos had been worried about leaving their luggage in the car. HIs cop instincts had all but begged TK to not leave items out in the open, even on the top of a random mountain during a snow storm. TK shook his head at the thought but started to find his clothes nonetheless. He knew Carlos would appreciate him bringing in their stuff and sorting it. He could do that.

He found his jeans and hoodie on the floor and quickly slid them on. He slipped into his sneakers and started toward the doors. More snow had fallen during the time they had spent in the bedroom. It looked beautiful outside.

He grabbed Carlos’s keys from where he had dropped them and stepped out onto the front porch. He closed the door to keep the cold from seeping inside, from waking up Carlos. He laughed at the image of Carlos in the snow, knowing the other man wasn’t used to the colder, wetter weather.

TK rubbed his hands together as he made his way to the car. He sidestepped larger build ups of snow and slid into the Camaro. He sighed and realized how out of practice he was. He used to navigate snow drifts and ice on a daily basis nearly five months out of the year.

He unlocked the car and grabbed their bags from the bag. It was just a couple duffle bags and backpacks, nothing major. He slung them on his shoulder and back. He turned and started to grab at the door to shut it. However, he missed the nearly formed patch of ice near the car. His foot hit it just right, sending him flaying and grasping for something to hold onto.

There wasn’t much for him to grab or use.

He fell, his feet slipping out from under him and his body propelling forward. The bags went flying. And his head hit the side of the car.

_Hard._

He slumped down onto the ground in a daze as pain shot through his head. He suffered a second blow as his head came painfully into contact with the concrete of the driveway.

_It dazed him._

He tried to grab onto something, to reach for something. But, his vision swam and his head spiked with pain. It was too much. He couldn’t take it. He soon passed out against the driveway, the bags flung about the ground and the car door open beside him.

_The snow kept falling…_

xxxx

Carlos woke sometime later. He rolled over, expecting to fall into TK. But all he found was a cold spot not the pillow and an empty side of the bed. He groaned and opened his eyes.

“Ty?” He blinked, as if that would somehow manifest his boyfriend in front of him. He groaned and pushed himself up in the bed. The room was brighter than he expected, a product of the new fallen snow outside and the oversized windows surrounding him. He blinked against, trying to adjust to the light. He rubbed a hand over his face as he reoriented to the space.

They were at the cabin. They were on vacation. They had just arrived. They had spent, well, he wasn’t sure how long, enjoying their time together in the bedroom. While it snowed.

He pushed himself further up in the luxurious bed and grabbed his jeans from the floor beside him. He dug around for his phone.

_6:24_

He locked it and tossed it on the bed. He must have slept for the last two hours or so. They had arrived just before four if he remembered correctly.

_But where was TK?_

Carlos looked around the room. He soon realized TK’s clothes were gone, and his shoes. He sighed and slipped over to the edge of the bed to put his own clothes back on. Once dressed, he made his way through the house, making a note to crank up the heat once he found TK.

_But TK wasn’t in the house._

The cabin, while luxioduriou in almost every way, was not large. It consisted of the one bedroom with an ensuite bathroom and a large open kitchen-living room space.

_TK wasn’t in any of them._

Carlos swallowed down his worry and moved toward the door. It was unlocked, something he didn’t remember doing. He furrowed his brow, stepping out of the house into the cold. The snow and ice had build up, biting at his face. He shivered. The scenery was beautiful, peaceful.

_Until he saw the blood._

He shivered again, but he wasn’t so sure if was because of the weather this time. He saw red against the white of the snow. It stuck out, hard to miss.

He moved forward with little thought, his focus solely on the stain and his missing boyfriend. His feet slid as he moved, but he managed to stay upright as he rounded the car. He nearly fell with the site that met him though.

_TK sprawled out with blood seeping from his head…_

Carlos moved without much though, slipping and sliding on the ice as he went. He managed to stay on his feet until he reached TK’s side. His hands shook as they reached out, hating how cold the other man felt. Carlos checked his pulse, breathing a sigh of relief. He let his hands wander back to TK’s cheek, cupping it and rubbing slightly to try to wake him.

“TK? Tyler? Hey,” he urged, hoping TK would wake at the words.

_He didn’t._

Carlos shook him gently with little change. He felt his own pulse speed up with panic. “TK!” The other man groaned but didn’t open his eyes. Carlos felt around the back of TK’s head; he found the source of the blood and inspected it closely. It didn’t look deep, but was bleeding slowly against his fingers.

_It wasn’t great._

Carlos looked around for help, but there wasn’t any. The nearest cabin was a couple miles down what appeared to now be an extremely icy hill. Carlos reached into the back of his Camaro and grabbed an emergency blanket he kept on hand. He wrapped TK in it and started to search for his keys. He found them under the car. He shut the back door and went around to the front to turn the car on. With the way TK looked, he figured a trip to the ER would be better than not.

However…his car had other plans.

It wouldn’t turn over when he tried cranking the engine.

“Shit,” he muttered.

The back door had been left open when TK fell. The lights had been on for who knew how long. The battery must have drained. Carlos hit the steeling wheel with the palm of his hand and cursed under his breath again. He knew he needed to do something. He sighed and got back out of the car. He rounded on TK and managed to life him up. He staggered back inside the cabin and eased TK onto the couch, not caring if he got blood on the fabric. He propped TK up, checking his breathing, and tucked the blanket around him more.

Carlos ran back to the bedroom in search of his phone. He nearly threw it across the room when he found it…no signal.

He heard a slight crashing sound from the other room.

“TK?” He rushed back to the main area of the cabin. TK was stirring on the couch. He had knocked over the keys from the armrest, causing the noise. “Ty? Can you hear me?” Carlos carded his fingers through TK’s hair. “Hey?”

TK groaned and blinked awake. Carlos could see his pupils react to the light, but they seemed sluggish. He swallowed down his anxiety. “TK? Can you hear me?”

“Y-yeah.” TK blinked again. He reached up and rubbed at the back of his head. “Owe.”

“Yeah, let’s not do that, babe.” Carlos took TK’s hand in his and squeezed. “Do you know what happened?”

TK rubbed at his eyes instead this time. “Ice? Did I fall?”

“Think so.” Carlos smiled sadly. “Do you know what you were doing? Why were you outside?”

“Um…bags? I think.” He groaned again. “Slipped.”

Carlos softened. TK looked upset and hurting. “Here I thought you knew all about snow and ice, New York.”

TK shrugged and winced. “Never said I didn’t fall.” 

“I should have known.” Carlos kissed TK’s knuckles. TK was awake and snarking back at him. “How’s the head? I think you have a concussion. We need to figure out a way to get you to the hospital.”

“No,” TK protested weakly, blinking a little. “I’m fine.” His speech slurred a little on the end of his words.

“I don’t know, TK. You hit your head. And I can tell your pupils are off. I’m no medic. But…”

“No…fine.”

Carlos’s worry only grew as TK seemed sluggish and off during the conversation. “Ty…I think we need to go to hospital.”

“No.” TK tried to push himself up but fell back as he tried. He sighed.

“See?” Carlos squeezed his hand again. “Babe I—“

“Just, give me t-time.”

“TK, you are freezing from being outside for who knows how long. You’re still bleeding and shaky.”

“No.”

“And that’s about the only word you have said. And it’s slurred.”

TK gave him a sad look at that. “Please.”

Carlos bit his lip. “You get an hour. If you are still slurring your words. Or if things get worse in any way before that…no arguments. We go.”

TK nodded and let his eyes fall shut.

“Hey, not sure you should be sleeping.” Carlos rubbed his knuckles again TK’s.

“Tired…”

Carlos already felt as if TK was decompensating and it hadn’t even been a minute since they agreed to wait. It didn’t bode well. Carlos set up camp near TK, he hoped for the best. But didn’t think the best was going to come…

The minutes ticked by. Carlos found a first aid kit and put some gauze on the cuts. TK seemed to wake up at that. And he stayed more alert than Carlos expected. He seemed somewhat okay. They were able to talk, even though TK looked like he wanted to sleep. He was slow to respond, but was responding. At least at first.

“Think you may get out of work for Christmas after all,” Carlos added after TK had been too quiet for too long.

“Mmmm,” TK half moaned, half agreed.

Carlos ran his hand through TK’s hair again. TK barely registered the motions. “Ty?”

TK’s eyes had slipped shut. He didn’t respond. Carlos anxiously checked his watch again. It was coming up on an hour since he had found TK, and his boyfriend didn’t seem to be improving. He gently shook TK again. The other man didn’t wake. Carlos shook harder. Nothing changed.

Carlos took in a shaky breath. He grabbed their phones again. Still no signal.

With no phone, no car, and a lot more snow than he had expected out there…Carlos was running out of options. He gave TK another look and made up his mind. He grabbed his coat and shoes. As much as he didn’t want to leave TK, he needed to find help.

He just had a feeling he shouldn’t wait any longer, no matter what his stubborn boy said…

xxxxx

TK woke to blinking multicolor lights…and the strong smell of antiseptic.

He groaned. He felt a pressure on his head and a needle in his hand. He shifted, sending pain spiking through his head atthe motion. He fell against the pillow, trying to take a deep breath.

_His head hurt._

Things slowly ebbed away as he took deep breaths. He was able to open his eyes after a few moments. He was greeted by lights. All around him. And not normal hospital lights.

_Christmas lights._

Someone had strung multicolor, blinking, Christmas lights around the edges of what appeared to be a private hospital room. In the corner sat a small tabletop tree with more lights and a few ornaments. There was even a poinsettia next to it. It was beautiful for what it was.

_But TK had no idea how he’d gotten there…_

“Hey you.”

He looked to find Carlos coming inside. He had one of their duffle bags in one hand and his phone in the other.

“Hey,” TK croaked, wincing at how his voice sounded.

Carlos set everything down and grabbed the water from beside the bed. He helped TK take some sips. “Of course you woke up as soon as I stepped away. Been waiting here for two days for that.” His smile and soothing voice held no bite, despite the words.

“What happened?” TK rubbed at the back of his neck. His fingers found a gauze pad and the winced again.

“Easy. You have some stitches back there. Though that’s not the worst of it.” Carlos snagged the chair beside the bed and scooted closer. “What’s the last thing you remember?”

TK closed his eyes. “I don’t know…didn’t we get to the cabin?”

“We did,” Carlos patiently replied. “Babe, that was two days ago.”

“Shit.” TK felt like he’d been doused in ice. “What happened?”

“We did make it to the cabin. We even made it back to the bedroom.” He smiled a little at the memory. “I think we fell asleep and you woke up before me. You must have decided to go unload the car, and managed to fall on some ice. And hit your head. They think twice…once on the car door and then again on the ground.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.” Carlos took TK’s hand and squeezed. “I found you like an hour later. So you also managed to get some superficial frostbite on your hands.”

TK looked down, noticing the small blisters on a couple fingers. “Damn…”

“Oh, it gets worse, babe.”

TK sagged and waited on him to respond.

“So, you also have a brain bleed.”

“What?” TK’s voice raised in anxiety.

“It’s minor,” Carlos quickly added. “But again, you hit your head hard. Twice.”

TK groaned at that.

“No surgery,” Carlos continued. “But we’re going to be here for a few days so they can monitor it.”

TK mulled over all the information. He was shocked. He didn’t remember falling. Definitely didn’t remember hitting his head so much. Or at all. Just…shit.

“Wait,” TK finally said, “but you’re supposed to be in Georgetown in four days, with your family.”

“Actually, supposed to be there in two. It’s the 22nd, Ty.”

TK rubbed his eyes. “Carlos, I’m so sorry. I—“

“Hush, you’re fine. You didn’t fall on purpose.”

TK nodded. “Shouldn’t you be hitting the road? If you have to be in Georgetown in two days?”

“I’m not going anywhere.” Carlos shifted and grabbed the duffle. He started unpacking what appeared to be presents. He stood and set them under the little tree. “And I don’t think you are either. Not til after Christmas.”

“But—“

“Nope. Doctors want to monitor you for the rest of the week. Which means you’re here til after Christmas.” Carlos sat back down. “Your dad is on his way. I just got off the phone with him. He couldn’t find someone to cover for him til today so he plans to head out soon.”

“No…that means Judd is going to have to work for me and—“

“Shhh…I talked to him yesterday. He’s fine. He wants you to get better. He said you could make it up by pulling a double on Grace’s birthday in March.”

TK sagged. “Wait…you aren’t going to see your sister?”

“No,” Carlos replied. “Do I need to get the doctor? You still seem pretty confused.”

“But you were looking forward to being with your family.”

“I was, but I was also not happy about being away from you. And no way in hell I’m leaving you alone in the hospital.”

TK gave him a sad look. “I’m so sorry.”

  
“I should say the same thing,” Carlos added, frowning. “I’m sorry you got hurt on our trip.”

“You didn’t push me on the ice.”

Carlos snorted. “See? And you didn’t try to fall. And hit your hit. So…no more apologies. We’re here. And we’ll be together. That’s all I wanted.” He leaned forward and kissed TK. “I just want to be with you.”

TK blushed and returned the kiss. “I’m glad you’re here. Even if I hate that it’s a hospital. Again.”

“Yeah I’d like to see if we can avoid this for awhile.”

TK laughed a little at that. “At least this one looks nicer than the last.” Carlos ducked his head at that. “Wait…you did all this? Didn’t you?”

Carlos shrugged. “It didn’t seem right. To not have any decorations. You know…”

TK felt his heart swell. “Come here.” He tugged on Carlos’s hand until the other man finally took the hint and joined him on the bed. “Thank you.” TK leaned against Carlos’s chest.

“Merry Christmas, babe.”


End file.
